Snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing are great ways to stay active, but once a board gets scraped and beat up, most people move on from their well-loved piece of equipment and store it in the garage or toss it away. Back Alley Boards, the brainchild of three New Hampshire artists, gives these boards new life by upcycling and turning them into art.

The business was formed by Arthur Anderson, Alex Jutras and Luke Boutin a few months ago, after a few incidental crossovers and serendipitous circumstances eventually led to their paths converging.

Jutras and Anderson met through the New Hampshire Art Association’s Fledgling: Artists Under 30 program and bonded over skateboarding. They threw around the idea of designing a deck together. Around that same time, Boutin was hand modeling gloves for the company at which Jutras works, and they also found a shared connection and love for art and board sports.

To complete the circle of connections that tied them together, Anderson and Boutin both attended the Manchester Institute of Art and Design and overlapped as students but had never truly met. Jutras brought them together, and they found many commonalities in their paths and passions – a sign that the three were meant to collaborate creatively.

The trio shares a common love for board sports of different kinds and understands the connection between a rider and what’s under their feet. When someone comes to them with an old board, their job is to turn it into a work of art that can continue to live alongside its rider.

The first piece of the puzzle is stripping a board down to its bones, removing grip tape and wax and cleaning up some of the dirt and grime.

For Jutras, who is the spray paint, base-layer and business guru for Back Alley Boards, the condition of a board when it is given to them, whether it’s broken or scratched, provides extra inspiration for what they’ll make of it.

Before starting Back Alley Boards, she upcycled clothing and garments under Back Alley Clothing in Worcester, Mass. This new venture felt like an opportunity to blend her passion for sustainability and painting on canvas. When she moved to the New Hampshire seacoast, she discovered her love for surfing and skating and has thrown herself into the culture.

“Upcycled Decks are so perfect because having those scratches underneath and having that base, there are textures already built in there, and you can already get some color inspiration from it,” she said. “So I feel like I’m imagining the deck come to life as I’m working on it. And that’s why I love the idea of upcycling too, because you’re really re-imagining something that’s already existed, and you’re just retelling a story in a different light.”

After finishing the base layer, she passes a board to one of the boys to explore.

Anderson, a Concord native and member of the Concord Skatepark Association, has worked as a screen printer and has been selling his art through the site “Homely Homies.” He’s a technically polished illustrator who uses graphite, charcoal, watercolor, acrylic paint, and digital techniques to bring his art to life. He loves using bold lines and dynamic compositions to give them personality. 

“We do almost like a game of telephone, like a little handoff system, for most of the boards we’ve done so far. Alex [Jutras] has started with them because we just kind of figured she’s a good starting point. She mostly works using spray paint as a base,” he explained. “So then it sets up either Luke [Boutin] or me to do the next step and do our process.”

Boutin is a photographer, videographer and artist who thinks that board designs should feel like they belong in the sport, not just slapped onto the material. For him, these designs strive to always blend chaos and composition. He’s an avid skater and snowboarder who merges his childish sense of humor with his professional acumen to make boards that fit right in at the park or hanging in a living room.

“I think the most fun thing, especially as an artist who feels like he’s having trouble letting go sometimes, is it’s fun to have a project where you don’t know where something’s going to start or end, and you just have to kind of trust your peers to create something,” Boutin said.

All three of their artistic approaches can be challenging to combine into one cohesive piece, but it’s all part of the fun and of embarking on this new venture rooted in friendship. The challenges haven’t caused friction between them, though, and they’re each enjoying experimenting on each other’s work – every time a board gets passed on, it adds a new layer to the remix.

Back Alley’s website encapsulates the trio's goals in their artistic endeavors.

“The philosophy that underlies the artistic collaborative is rooted in sustainable sports, ensuring that the life cycle of a well-loved board is prolonged past its time attached to a person’s feet,” the website says.

With less than 10 boards under its belt so far, Back Alley Boards is just getting started. The artists are most excited about opening up to board-sport lovers and commissioning them to revive pieces of their story. To learn more, skaters, surfers and snow-sport athletes, along with anyone interested in purchasing a board, can go to BackAlleyBoards.com. 

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com.